Maharashtra government wants nilgai, wild boar to be declared vermin

The Maharashtra government has moved the Centre to declare blue bulls (nilgai) and wild boars as vermin to ease restrictions on their killing considering the crop depredation caused by these animals.

However, this has raised the hackles of environmentalists who point out that it may lead to carnivores being deprived of their principal prey thus increasing man-animal conflict. They advocate softer solutions like fencing around fields to prevent animals from straying into these areas.

The pressures on agriculture and ecology have led to complaints by farmers about crop losses caused by animals, which enter their fields for forage. Senior forest department officials said that the state pays around Rs5 crore annually to farmers whose crops are damaged by rampaging animals, though the actual damage is more.

"The state government has sent a proposal to the Centre to declare blue bulls and wild boar as vermin in selected villages in four districts of Beed, Latur, Osmanabad and Jalgaon considering crop losses caused by these animals," an official told dna, adding this would initially be undertaken on an experimental basis.

This would be done in some areas for a limited period of time and ensure that they can be culled without restrictions since the legal protection given to the species is reduced. States like Bihar have already secured the Centre's consent to declare the two animals as vermin.

"We have deliberately chosen places with a low forest area as these animals are the prey of carnivores. These areas have low predator presence. We will test the waters before extending it elsewhere," the official said, adding that the proposal was discussed in a recent meeting of the Maharashtra state wildlife board.

"If these animals are declared as vermin, people will be able to kill them directly without seeking permission from the forest department," he said, adding that they had already issued guidelines to enable range forest officers to dispose off killed blue bull and wild boar carcasses.

This reduction of their protection status and inclusion of blue bulls and wild boars in Schedule V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, will bring them at par with common crows, fruit bars and mice/rats which have already been declared as vermin.

Though there are complaints about elephants, Indian bisons (Konkan) and black bucks (Ahmednagar and Solapur) damaging crops, it was not possible to allow the culling of these animals as they enjoy a higher degree of protection under the law.

However, an environmentalist pointed out that easing the culling of these animals could deprive larger carnivores like tigers and leopards of their principal prey, leading to a rise in the man-animal conflict with these wild cats entering human habitations to lift cattle and domesticated animals.

"Lack of this (prey) may lead to a probability of the man-animal conflict increasing," the environmentalist pointed out. Environmentalist Stalin D of Vanashakti described the idea as "shocking" and added that these animals left the forests for survival. "Crop damages have been paid for decades. Instead of killing these animals, trenches should be dug around the fields or fences should be erected," he suggested, adding that instead, the government was "choosing the easiest way out."

Stalin noted that while forests were degraded, cattle were let inside forests for grazing, which led to the nilgai coming to feed on the fields located near forest areas. However, senior forest department officials defended the plan. "It is the other way around. A man-animal conflict already exists in these areas… hence, to reduce this, culling is planned to be permitted," averred an official, adding that places where herbivores strayed into fields did not have adequate presence of carnivores like tigers and leopards to hunt them, leading to a lack of restriction on their numbers.

 In selected areas

This would be done in some areas for a limited period of time and ensure that they can be culled without restrictions since the legal protection given to the species is reduced. States like Bihar have already secured the Centre's consent to declare the two animals as vermin. "We have deliberately chosen places with a low forest area as these animals are the prey of carnivores. These areas have low predator presence. We will test the waters before extending it elsewhere," the official said, adding that the proposal was discussed in a recent meeting of the Maharashtra state wildlife board.